บท 13: Gary's Choice
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Here's a chapter after a long time. Now I am up and ok. I will most likely post chapters skipping a day, i.e. if I poat on Monday, then the next chapter will be on Wednesday and so on.
Now, enjoy the chapter and comment if you like it.
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Now that Gary has leaped over the hurdle of the PTLTs to become an official trainer, he could make his choice about the official starter trio.
The Professor as if he could read Gary's mind said, "So, now that you are eligible for the sponsorship, what pokemon will you choose?"
Gary's face showed a struggling expression. The sentiments of the previous Gary still remained pushing him to get a Squirtle, but his rational mind was saying that it would be pointless to have two defensive heavy hitters Metagross and Blastoise in his team that early.
Professor Oak noticed the unnatural expression on his face. He as if satisfied at something nodded his head and said, "Hmm, so you have actually started to think about start about your team, instead of rashly choosing Squirtle without a thought."
He paused and again continued, "I too do not recommend Squirtle as your choice since you have Metang."
"I know that Gramps, but I really wanted a water type."
Professor Oak adopted a thinking pose with one hand rubbing his chin looking up in deep thought.
"Hmm, now that's quite a problem. What can be done, what can be done?" The Professor mused to himself at a voice with a sly smirk that could be clearly heard by his grandson.
Gary developed an imaginary tick mark on his forehead.
He said mincing his words, "Gramps, I can clearly see your smirk!"
"Now, what plan have you cooked up, quickly spit it out." Gary uttered impatiently while tapping his foot on the floor.
Professor Oak sighed dramatically at his own grandson's lack of appreciation for theatrics.
"Let's seee...., I may or may not have applied to a particular Professor in Johto for their mascot water starter, just a few minutes back. And Elm owes me a few favours, so you can consider it settled."
Gary was at first spellbound at the scope of his Gramps' words. Johto meant, he would be getting a Totodile as his starter.
Feraligatr as a species are inherently aggressive heavy attackers and could be equipped with a varying move pool and also could be trained to become fast enough to dodge attacks. Above all, this water type was one of Gary's favourites.
"I am so happy Gramps....."
"Ohh Gary, you don't have to worry about the potential. It will be high enough for the starter of a Regional Topper."
Gary immediately waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Both you and I know, Gramps, if the potential is above a certain level, then they can be raised to higher ones with various materials."
What Gary said was quite true. For example, the heart of a high Rank Ursaring could raise the potential of a Normal type pokemon.
Gary continued, "Besides the more important thing that make Totodile rare in the wild was that they lived in big tribes, that resided in quite inaccessible areas and where the mothers keep keen eyes on the young ones, and there are at least five to six fully evolved males, besides the Tribe leader."
He made a gesture that depicted he was saying his grandfather was already aware of this trivia.
"Oh, by the way, what is Ash's score? Don't you know his registration number?"
"Yes, I checked it when you were jumping around hugging Metang." Professor Oak threw an appropriate jab at his proud grandson to one up him.
Gary's entire face reddened upto his ears in embarrasement. He couldn't help but think of the scene where he was dancing in pure joy hugging Metang.
"Anyway, speaking of Ash's score, he got 55 in the written section and 65 in the practical battle. Most probably, his attitude was deemed unsatisfactory for his 65 score despite winning his battle."
"So, he passed the PTLTs, huh."
"Oh, Gary, I will be going to Celadon City today for a League meeting. I will most probably be unable to return by today. Alice will accompany me. You don't have to worry about your meals. I have already informed Delia, someone from the restaurant will deliver your food."
"Got it, Gramps."
"Let's go, Metang. We will have to finish your daily training."
A low hum from the floating steel type was emitted as a signal of its consent. Gary followed by Metang left the room. Both of them headed towards the secluded region of the Oak Coral where Metang trained. They finally reached their destination after walking for fifteen minutes.
Metang slowly took its place in front of its trainer whom it had taken quite a liking to which was astounding for a pokemon species which were famous for their emotionless nature.
"Metang, now that we will be starting our official journey in two weeks, I want you to break through to the Advance Rank before that. For that, you will have to raise the proficiency of one more move to Advanced along with Take Down, Psychic, Metal Claw. I recommend Light Screen as a means of defense."
(It is quite logical, Friend Trainer. And next time, please don't involve me in your excitement.)
In response, Gary was taken aback at first.
"Is that a cheek I hear from you?" Gary nade an exaggerated motion by pointing his finger at Metang.
In reply, there was a long silence.
Gary took it as a lost cause and continued, "Today we would work on a new move, and that is Flash Cannon. This move comes quite easily to the Metagross evolution line. It is a compact beam of steel type energy that unleashes hell on the opponent."
Gary's mind was filled with the images of Steven's Metagross unleashing Flash Cannons on that corrupted Rock Zygarde in Pokemon XYZ. He was anticipating for the day when his own pokemon will be capable of such feats.
He cleared his mind and concentrated on instructing Metang, "You will start with amassing steel type energy in front of yourself and when you feel you have accumulated enough, shoot it out in a steady stream."
After a few tries, as Metang got the hang of it and started to progress in the correct direction, Gary left it to its own devices and began his own psychic and martial arts training.
He first went through the moves that his Grandfather had taught him throughout the years. After a round of practicing his martial arts, he took a seat under a cool shade to dry his sweat and began his psychic training. First came, psychokinesis. He picked up ten medium sized stones, each double the size of his fists and began to make them revolve around himself, sometimes projecting a stone in a particular direction to bring up the accuracy of his psychic throws.
After the telekinetic practice was over, around an hour later, Gary slowly sank into an immersive state. He entered his psychic realm where he had stuck at a bottleneck of not being able to approach the centre of the web. According to Alakazam, one typically needed a stimulus to break this kind of bottleneck. Gary gave up on forcefully reaching the centre and exited the psychic realm.
The sun had already crossed midway and was just starting its descent journey. He recalled Metang who had taken to Flash Cannon like a fish to water. Within the span of a few hours, the structure of the move was ready, it was just lacking in power currently.
Then, he began his homeward trek through their family grounds. Even though, his body was sweaty and there were traces of mud and dirt here and there, it did not feel uncomfortable to him.
When Professor Oak came to know of his grandson's OCD, he had taken up the role of his counsellor and had introduced practices like sparring on the mud, etc. to slowly ebb away the OCD.
Gary freshened up and after depositing Metang's pokeball on his table top, as he was going downstairs, there was a ring of the doorbell.
Realising that it was most probably someone from Delia's Restaurant delivering his food, he approached the main door and opened it up. He did a double take when he saw the person standing in front of him.
"What? Not expecting me?" rang a soothing voice that washed away all his fatigue.
As soon as Gary returned to his senses, he took a step forward and wrapped his arms around the person and picked her up and closed the door with his telekinesis.
Gary said with closed eyes as he took in the flowery scent of his beloved, "I was really not expecting you, I thought one of the workers of the restaurant will deliver the food."
A bewitching giggle resounded from Delia Ketchum.
"Hmm, but the food will turn cold, you should eat up first and then we can cuddle, right?"
But Gary like a petulant child was unwilling to let go of her.
With great reluctance, he released the beautiful woman from his arms and went to tge dining room with Delia following him with a smile on his face.
However, as soon as Delia had served the food, all signs of reluctance evaporated from Gary's face and he dug into the food of heavens with gutso.
Gary could feel the love Delia had for him while he ate. He stopped eating for a while and asked, "Delia, why do you love me so much?"
Delia at first took the question as one of Gary's love for theatrics. But when she noticed the extremely serious look on his face, she heaved a deep sigh.
"Do you know the circumstances of my marriage, Gary?"
"No, but wasn't Ash's father a pokemon Ranger?"
Delia mentally chuckled when she realised that Gary had intentionally mentioned Ash's father instead of her husband.
"Yes, but I did not marry out of love. Richard, Ash's father had then just taken up his post in Mt. Silver where my parents were conducting a research. Both of them got trapped in a cave in the dense forest, it was him who had rescued them. My parents as a sign of thanks, offered my hand in marriage to him without my permission. There occured a shitstorm in our house, but I finally had to marry him. Richard, as a human being, was no doubt good, but even then, I could not make up myself to really love him."
Delia paused to collect her erratic breathing, streams of tears could be seen cascading down her eyes.
Gary quietly stood up from his seat and embraced Delia, slowly rubbing her back to calm her down.
"On that day, when you kissed me, I felt that as if I had recovered a missing part of mine. In a way, you are my first love. Don't abondon me, Gary, okay?" Delia's hopeful eyes with tears pierced through Gary's heart.
"Never, I will never abondon you." Gary quietly made a vow to Delia as well as to himself.
Both of them as if of one mind, brought their lips together to kiss in full passion as if to seal their vow.
The long afternoon witnessed the battle between two humans in love as armorous sounds rang throughout the Oak Residence. Even the sun after sometime dipped beneath the horizon to hide himself in shame at the passion of the couple.
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Celadon City, Kanto League Office
In a conference room, figures could be seen sitting around a table. Each of the person present in that Kanto was a pillar of Kanto. A meeting was waiting to be started. This was the Annual Meet that the Champion, the Elite Four and the Gym Leaders held just before the new batch of trainers got their liscense.
As the official Regional Professor of Kanto, Professor Oak, was also present there.
A deep voice originated from the person sitting in the head chair. "Where is Giovanni? Why is he absent?"
The reply came from a sturdy man who was filled with muscles, "His message was that he had some urgent work and would be unable to attend. I think we should start."
"The first agenda on our board is......" The deep voice that asked the question began the meeting without waiting any longer.
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END
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